Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Just because you put new paint on the house does not mean that you have a new house. It might feel good and it might feel like a new one, but it is not, because the reality is that you have a ratty house. The reality is that everywhere in that house you can see the fingerprints of the member for Wentworth, because he was there supporting everything. In my neck of the woods, this is what he supported—because remember, he was out there as the flag bearer saying he supported every decision, because he was a good team player. What does that mean for our area? Chifley is the worst affected in terms of education cuts. In our area hospitals, they cut the funding for our MRI. In terms of broader health spending there have been massive cuts to hospitals, particularly in New South Wales, which has been terribly affected. In our local council there has been $7 million cut from Blacktown council's funding to maintain its infrastructure. When you look, everywhere it has been cut, cut, cut, and Malcolm has been there cheering, cheering, cheering all along the way. He is now Prime Minister—it has taken a bit of getting used to. Hang on. I know he has been champing at the caviar to get to the top job, but let me just say that the test on him now is: what does he change? Because if he says he has supported all this in the past, what is going to make him different? Because it cannot be all style; there has got to be substance. And the people in our area deserve better.

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